Improvement in car-couplings



STATES PATENT OFFICE.

ENOS W. PELOUBET, OF NEWARK, NEW JERSEY.

IMPROVEMENT IN CAR-COUPLINGS.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 141,290, dated July 29, 1873,' application filed May 23, 1873.

To all whom it may concern:

Beit known that I, Enos W. PELoUBEr, of Newark, New Jersey, have invented eertain Improvements in Oar-Couplings, of which the following is a specification:

My invention relates to an automatic carcoupling; and consists of a pair of jaws operated by a peculiar combination of levers, and locked by means of a gravitating pin, or its equivalent, made to arrest the motion of a draw-bar secured to said jaws, and thereby lock the latter, the whole operating in such a manner (to be hereinafter described) as to furnish a durable self-actin g coupling, which, being opened, remains so until closed by contact with a car, and being closed, locks the two adjoining cars firmly together until the draw-bar is released by hand or otherwise.

ln the accompanying drawing, Figure l is a plan view of the coupling as closed, complete, showin g by dotted lines its internal construction and its mode of attachment to the cars. Fig. 2 is a plan view of the coupling detached from the car, with its jaws open.

A A are the jaws jointed on the buffer-bar by means of pins O O. i

The butler-bar may be formed with a crosshead, as shown, through which said pins pass, or it may be formed of one solid straight piece, and, in either instance, may be cushioned or rigidly secured to the car.

The jaws act on their respective joints as levers in moving forward or backward the wedge-piece D, to which the draw-bar O is secured. Said wedgepiece is connected with thejaws by means of straps b b, and is formed with a spline or ridge, H, upon each side,

which slide in corresponding grooves in the inner side of the jaws, to secure uniformity of movement. This wedge-piece surrounds and slides on the buffer-bar. The draw-bar O, connected with said wedge-piece, also slides on the buffer-bar B, but between ears or iianges I on the sides of the latter. The pin J enters, and has its bearing, in orifices in these flanges, and the draw-bar O is perforated laterally at such. a point, that when the jaws are closed the pin J can enter, and thereby lock the whole, until withdrawn by the 1ever K. The opposite members of the coupling consist of the lock-head L, having curved shoulders at its rear to open the jaws, and

being beveled toward its outer end for adapting it to any irregularities in the track or size ofthe cars, of the curved buffer-head N, which serves the double purpose of a bui'er and a means for closing the jaws the instant it comes into contact with them. In the jaws, at their center, and i'n the lock-head, is an oritice, a, for adapting the coupling to a car provided with the ordinary link and pin.

The pin J having been withdrawn, the jaws,

in being opened, slide back the wedge-piece D and draw-bar O, by means of the straps b b, as shown in Fig. 2. In this position the lock-head L readily enters between the jaws, until the bul'er-head N compresses them together, when the jaws, in turn, draw the drawbar forward until the pin J enters the orifice in its side, and locks the whole until again withdrawn bya lever, which operates the pin, and which is so balanced as to urge the pin forward, unless raised, and so secured by a notch or otherwise. The lock-head, by-means of the projections shown at its rear, is now firmly secured within the jaws, and will remain so until the pin J is removed, when, by reason of the curve in the rear of these projections, the jaws will separate as soon as either car is started.

1. The jaws A A, operated by the curved butlerl1ead N, or its equivalent, substantially as and for the purpose set forth.

2. The jaws A A, in combination with the curved buffer-head N and the lock-head L, substantially as and for the purpose set forth.

3. The combination of the jaws A A, the straps b b, the Wedgepiece D, and the drawbar O, substantially as and for the purpose set forth.

4. The combination of the jaws A A with the draw-bar O, the pin J, and the gravitating lever K, substantially as and for the purpose set forth.

5. rlhe combination of the jaws A A, the buffer-bar B, the draw-bar O, having wedgepiece D, and the pin J, substantially as and for the purpose set forth.

ENOS W. PELOUBET.

Witnesses:

GHAs. E. HILL, J. A. MCCLELI AND. 

